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Review and Herald, Vol. 23, No. 1.

Pope or President

Review and Herald

Dec 1, 1863

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 1, 1863

Pope or President.

By Uriah Smith

As we near the end, dangers of all kinds thicken around us. We speak not merely of the Christian. So much is said of the dangers of the way to Mount Zion, and of the foes, the snares and perils that beset the weary pilgrim, that we might almost be led to think that he was the only one, and his the only path, subject to these evils. But it is not so. While the pathway of the child of God lies through the perils of earth's closing scenes, perils tenfold more fearful in their nature gather around him who has no arm of Jehovah upon which to lean. Tenfold more deplorable is his condition who has to meet these things unaided by succor from on high. And there are perils not to individuals merely, but to communities, States, governments and nations. The thrones of monarchs and the institutions of Republicanism are alike in danger. Unforeseen complications suddenly threaten them with destruction on this hand and on that, resistless and without remedy. In short, the whole world is jostling and surging and beating about, amid the shoals and breakers of those perilous times which the apostle forewarned us should be here when the last days were come. The readers of the Review will find in the following a description of a fearful agency at work in this nation, betokening anything but peace and safety to our own government. We prefer the Christian's dangers to those of any other class of people; while the Christian's hope, his shield and buckler, his rock of defense and strong tower, are far more to us, than all the retreats of refuge and arms of succor that the perishing world can vainly offer. U. S.

Pope or President.

A book with this title was published some years since, designed to correct the extreme incredulity of the American people in refusing to believe that republican institutions are imperiled by the existence of a Roman hierarchy among us. Other works, by learned and judicious ministers of various denominations, have warned us of our dangers. Their works have failed to arouse the Christian community. A political party, styled the American or Know-Nothing party, attempted to grapple with the impending evil, but ignominiously failed, chiefly on account of its undemocratic attitude, which placed it in hostility not simply to the hierarchal rule of Popery, but to all foreigners indiscriminately. The false position of this party has done a great dis-service to the cause of Protestantism, by the reaction it has naturally caused.
But the question returns, "Pope or President?" We shall have either the one or the other; we cannot have both. As the wheels of revolution move on, they reveal more and more distinctly the evidences that Romanism and Republicanism can never coalesce. We have tried the great experiment of mingling freedom and slavery in one political union, and we have seen the results. Our next experiment is with Popery. Its developments may astonish us. Popery is a greater power than slavery. Bring it fairly into collision with our government, and it will kindle fires before whose terrific glare the slaveholder's rebellion will pale. Romanism even under monarchical institutions, has filled many a country with blood; how much more fierce will be the strife when it grapples with its natural and irreconcilable enemy, republican liberty, civil and religious?
The terrible riots that have shook our city to its foundation have opened men's eyes. It is not so much what has happened that gives alarm, as what may happen. Here we have seen a whole class banded together, as by a natural instinct, in resistance to the laws. A sympathetic chord was found to vibrate from Yorkville to the battery, from Jersey City to Brooklyn. Whose were the hearts that pulsated with instant approval, and the gleaming eyes that could not conceal their impatient joyousness while the events of that dark Monday were going on? It was not the German element that warmed up at the tidings of burning mansions, flying orphans, and wanton butcheries; it was not the French, it was not the Italian. Nor would it be just to say it was the Irish; more loyal men are not to be found than many who look back to Green Erin as their birthplace. It was not Irishmen, it was only Catholic Irishmen, that were actors in these scenes of blood. Householders then discovered with horror that their servant girls had been aware of the intended outbreak for several days previous. Protestant families trembled for their lives, and now scarcely dare employ an Irish Catholic, lest the free familiar conversation of the table should be reported abroad, and the destruction of their dwellings pay the penalty. Gov. Seymour's fear that if the populace were not propitiated, the housemaids would burn down the mansions of their employers over their heads, though ridiculed in some of the papers, was by no means an unreasonable terror.
How can this sudden outburst of fury, disclosing such a perfect bond of sympathy animating thousands of hearts, be accounted for? Is there something in the nature of the Irish disposition that prepares it to turn, at an unexpected moment, in a paroxysm of fury, and smite down its friends and benefactors? No, it is not the Celtic blood, it is the influence of a false religion. There lies down deep in the soul of every devout bigoted Catholic, an instinctive, ineradicable consciousness of alienation between him and the laws, institutions, religion, and customs of this country. He can never forget that its foundations rest on Puritanism, his mortal enemy. He does not heartily become a citizen of the republic. His home feelings are not allowed to cluster around its institutions, though, to a certain extent, they may attach themselves to their soil.
There was every natural reason to expect that in such a rebellion as the present, Irishmen would deeply sympathize with the North. Having been oppressed themselves, it was natural that they should feel for the poor slave. Emancipated themselves, it was supposed they would be foremost in seeking the emancipation of others. The standards of their church were opposed to slavery. Popes had condemned it. It would be monstrous to think that when French, German, and Italian patriots were battling for the rights of man, Irish patriots should espouse the cause of despotism. But we have the facts before our eyes. Brownson, in his Catholic review, while urging his brethren to change their position and repair the harm they have done, fully acknowledges that the general charge of Catholic disloyalty to freedom is just. He says, "It is undeniable that no religious body in the country stands so generally committed to slavery and the rebellion, or as a body have shown so little sympathy with the effort of the Government to save the life and unity of the nation, as the Catholic." "Not a single Catholic journal, except one ventures to assert openly and decidedly the true Catholic doctrine in regard to slavery; and the Catholic who does not throw all his influence on the side of the pro-slavery party is read out of the pale of Catholic society, especially in this city of New York, where there are more Catholics than in all the seceded States put together." "We can scarcely find a Catholic descendant from an old American family, or even of American birth, that is not practically a pro-slavery man in his talk and in his influence." Go where we will in the loyal States, and we find nearly every Catholic we meet a southern sympathizer, an intense hater of the abolitionist, and more ready to see the Union divided or reconstructed under Jeff. Davis on slavery as its corner-stone, than to see it restored by the extinction of slavery.
These statements cannot be denied. They show beyond question that we have in our midst a large and powerful class of hereditary, traditional, civil and religious enemies to our free Protestant institutions, who are under the most perfect discipline, and swayed by their leaders as the summer foliage is swayed by the rushing wind. In the present war they have had every motive to unite heartily with us; their interests, their creed, their foreign connections have all pressed them in the direction of loyalty; their priests have ostensibly given their counsels in the same direction, and yet we find them aliens, aliens in heart, aliens in conduct, and open foes when subjected to an equal share of the public burdens.
Suppose, now, this alien element, instead of being held in check by motives to loyalty, should at somefuture time find all its motives tending in an opposite direction? Imagine that instead of being at war with fellow Protestants as we are now, our enemy had been a Catholic power; that the object of the war, instead of being the extension of slavery, had been the extension of the Catholic religion; in short, that Napoleon, having fully reinstated the Catholic priesthood in Mexico and trodden out the last traces of republicanism there, should suddenly throw his victorious arms and his immense navy against this city, with the sanction of the Pope and the secret or open endorsement of Archbishop Hughes, where would our Catholic population be found then? Who can for a moment believe that we could in such a contingency rely upon them to act as the defenders of republican liberty? How long before the Freeman's Journal would reiterate the holy claims put forth in 1855: "The Pope of Rome has supreme authority over every diocese and over every square foot of surface on the globe. His rights are circumscribed only by the ends of the earth and the consummation of ages?" How long before the clamorers in behalf of a licentious press would resume the dogma taught them by the Pope: "Freedom of conscience is an absurd and dangerous maxim;" "the liberty of the press is a fatal license of which we cannot entertain too great a horror?"

A Little While.

"A LITTLE while,"—our Lord shall come, And we shall wander here no more; He'll take us to our Father's home, Where he for us has gone before— To dwell with him, to see his face, And sing the glories of his grace.
"A little while,"—he'll come again : Let us the precious hours redeem ; Our only grief, to give him pain, Our joy, to serve and follow him. Watching and ready may we be, As those that long their Lord to see.
"A little while,"—'twill soon be past ; Why should we shun the promised cross? Oh, let us in his footsteps haste, Counting for him all else but loss : For how will recompense his smile The sufferings of this "little while!"
"A little while,"—come, Saviour, come ! For thee thy church has tarried long; Take thy poor wearied pilgrims home, To sing the new eternal song,— To see thy glory, and to be In everything conformed to thee !

A Question.

By Editor

BRO. AMADON: In Vol. xi, No. 11, of The Youth's Instructor, in the story of Cain and Abel, there seems to be a natural query in the minds of some of the children who those men were that Cain expected to meet, who might kill him. As the narrative stands, it would seem that Cain was the only one then living of Adam's posterity.
Yours seeking after light. A. B. WILLIAMS.
Clinton, Wis., Nov. 15, 1863.
ANSWER.—The above question we suppose was propounded for the benefit of the Instructor, but being somewhat crowded for room this number, we subjoin our answer and pass it over to the Review. As this point has been critically examined by others, we submit the following explanation from the Commentary of Dr. Adam Clarke, containing his own view and that of Mr. Dodd, which we think is the true solution of the difficulty mentioned.
G. W. A.
"Most people who read this account wonder why Cain should dread being killed, when it does not appear to them that there were any inhabitants on the earth at that time besides himself and his parents. To correct this mistake, let it be observed that the death of Abel took place in the one hundred and twenty-eighth or one hundred and twenty-ninth year of the world. Now, 'supposing Adam and Eve to have had no other sons than Cain and Abel in the year of the world one hundred and twenty-eight, yet as they had daughters married to these sons, their descendants would make a considerable figure on the earth. Supposing them to have been married in the nineteenth year of the world, they might easily have had each eight children, some males and some females, in the twenty-fifth year. In the fiftieth year there might proceed from them in a direct line sixty-four persons; in the seventy-fourth year there would be five hundred and twelve; in the ninety-eighth year, four thousand and ninety-six; in the one hundred and twenty-second they would amount to thirty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight; if to these we add the other children descended from Cain and Abel, their children, and their children's children, we shall have, in the aforesaid one hundred and twenty-eight years four hundred and twenty-one thousand one hundred and sixty-four men capable of generation, without reckoning the women either old or young, or such as are under the age of seventeen.' See Dodd.
"But this calculation may be disputed, because there is no evidence that the antediluvian patriarchs began to have children before they were sixty-five years of age. Now, supposing that Adam at one hundred and thirty years of age had one hundred and thirty children, which is quite possible, and each of these a child at sixty-five years of age, and one in each successive year, the whole, in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the world, would amount to one thousand two hundred and nineteen persons, a number sufficient to found several villages, and to excite the apprehensions under which Cain appeared at this time to labor."

Man's Inheritance. Ps. cxv, 16.

By M. M. Osgood

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." 1 Cor. ii, 9, 10.
There are no bowers on earth so fair, as were the bowers of Eden; There are no flowers nor fruits so rare, as those to man first given; Sweet melody in every tree, from birdling voices sounded, While peace and love, like that above, in every heart abounded.
'Twas sweet employ, without alloy, to do as God directed, His name to bless, the garden dress, while by his love protected. At cool of day, how gladly they would haste to meet their Father, Then face to face, in sweet embrace, would pass the hours together.
When Satan's lie, "Thou shalt not die," caused man's first disobedience, He sees no way, by which he may return to his allegiance; He only saw God's broken law, whose penalty demanded The life of those who dare refuse to do as God commanded.
Sweet mercy's voice, made man rejoice in hopes of coming favor; I've found for thee a remedy, she said, I've found a Saviour! Oh sweeter word, ear never heard, than this one dear name Jesus, Who'll save from sin (death's cruel sting); yes, e'en from death release us.
For disobedience to God's law there could be no remission Without the richest blood was shed, mingled with intercession. That blood was spilt, t'atone for guilt; then Christ's example given To show those how to keep God's law, whose sins had been forgiven.
Then we'll obey, from day to day, each one of God's commandments; Keep Jesus' faith, as th' angel saith, and do all his requirements; His faith the same, as John did name, The testimony of Jesus, Which is the spirit (mark the words) of prophecy, to teach us.
Oh blessed they who God obey, for they shall surely enter Those pearly gates, where glory waits, and endless pleasures center. If but one point we fail to keep, we shall be written guilty! The least command if disobeyed, condemns us with the filthy.
The hour draws near when He'll appear; the Lord in clouds of heaven; The trumpet sounds, and from the ground, the saints will have arisen; Then words how sweet our ears will greet, Come, blessed of my Father! Those mansions fair Christ did prepare, they'll then inherit ever.
Jerusalem, the saints' bright home, within the skies remaineth A thousand years, till Christ appears again on earth, and reigneth. Then it comes down, bearing God's throne, by all the saints attended, To be henceforth earth's capitol, when sin's dark reign has ended.
The wicked now are raised, and bow to Satan as their leader, Encompassing the saints' abode, as foes in battle gather; But fire from God devours them all; both root and branch it burneth; Their works are burned, the melted earth to elements returneth.
With these, the Lord's all-powerful word, re-fashions earth, and clothes it With all that's beautiful and good, then to the meek restores it. When everlasting death shall hush the sinner's wail forever, The universe shall sound with praise, to Christ and God the Father.
Oh there will be life healing tree, beside life's flowing river; And every tear shall disappear, its causes cease forever; While wolves and lambs together feed, his chosen Jesus heedeth In pastures green, by quiet stream, where every want he heedeth.
M. M. Osgood. Bronte, C. W.

New York Conference Report.

By J. M. Aldrich

Evening after the Sabbath, Nov. 7th at Adams' Center, N. Y. the first session of the Second Annual Conference of S. D. Adventists convened for the transaction of business.
Meeting called to order by the president—D. Arnold.
Prayer by Eld. J. N. Andrews. Credentials being called for, the following brethren presented themselves, and were duly admitted as delegates to the Conference:
Roosevelt, Wm. Treadwell and L. R. Chapel; Bucks Bridge, H. G. Buck; West Monroe, H. Decker; Kirkville, H. Gardner; Mill Grove, Z. Brooks; Olcott, R. F. Cottrell; Somerset, J. M. Aldrich; Alleghany Co., N. Fuller, Asa Green, J. G. Saunders, and A. Lanphear; Rochester, J. B. Lamson; Mannsville, H. H. Wilcox and A. H. Robinson; Catlin, N. Fuller; Oswego, E. Goodwin; Clarkson, J. B. Lamson; Ulysses, Pa., N. Fuller; Clymer, Pa., N. Fuller.
The following named churches were now voted into the Conference; and the brethren named therewith, were received as delegates therefrom.
Brookfield, Ira Abbey and H. Main; Bangor, H. W. Lawrence; Adams' Center, Wm. Green and Wm. S. Salisbury; Champlain, C. O. Taylor; Norfolk, S. B. Whitney; Middle Grove, G. R. Barber; Alba, Pa., J. N. Andrews.
It was now moved and carried that Brn. J. Parmalee of Verona, A. N. Curtis of Camden, and C. Gregory of Lockport, be invited to participate in the deliberations of the Conference. It was also moved and carried that Bro. White be invited to take part in the proceedings of the Conference.
The Conference now being organized, the Secretary's report of last Conference was called for and read by the Secretary.
Next business attended to, was the consideration of the form of constitution recommended for State Conferences by the last general Conference held at Battle Creek. After having been read by the Secretary, it was moved and carried, that the constitution and rules adopted at the organization of our Conference last year, be rescinded, and that the constitution recommended by the general Conference be adopted in its stead.
The following named brethren were appointed as a committee to nominate officers and prepare business for the next session, viz. J. N. Andrews, N. Fuller, C. O. Taylor, J. M. Aldrich, H. Hilliard and D. Arnold. Adjourned till 8 o'clock next morning. The committee went into immediate session. At the hour appointed Conference again convened. Treasurer's report, being called for, the treasurer, J. B. Lamson, reported as follows: Whole amount received $1278.24. Paid out; $608.22. On hand, $670.02.
The following brethren were elected as officers for the ensuing year: A. Lanphear, President, J. M. Aldrich, Secretary, J. B. Lamson, Treasurer, and J. N. Andrews and N. Fuller Conference committee.
Receiving ministers into the Conference being now in order, it was moved and carried, that the names of those now belonging to the Conference, be taken up and considered separately; whereupon Eld. J. N. Andrews, Eld. N. Fuller, Eld. R. F. Cottrell, and Eld. C. O. Taylor were voted to continue their standing in the Conference, as duly authorized and approved evangelical ministers thereof.
Pending the motion in regard to Bro. Andrews, Bro. White made some timely and appropriate remarks in regard to the relation sustained by him to the Conference, and the care that the churches and brethren should exercise for him and his family, whereupon the following resolution was presented and adopted:
Resolved, That the remarks of Bro. White in regard to Bro. Andrews' connection with our Conference, are worthy of our candid and prayerful consideration; and that we will cheerfully unite our efforts to make him and his family comfortable and happy, and that we will do all in our power to stay up his hands and leave him free to prosecute the work of the Lord.
On motion, the chair made a call for other ministers who desired to become preachers of the Conference the ensuing year.
Bro. F. Wheeler was recommended by a letter from the church at West Monroe, and Bro. S. B. Whitney was recommended by several of the churches in Northern N. Y. for ordination and reception into the Conference.
Moved and carried that the applications for Bro. Wheeler and Bro. Whitney and other ministers who might desire to join the Conference, be referred to the Conference committee.
Adjourned to 6 o'clock in the evening.
Evening session opened by prayer by Bro. Fuller.
Ministers reports being now called for, Brn. Andrews, Fuller and Cottrell, presented written reports of their labors during the year, also of their receipts and expenditures, which were approved by the Conference.
Moved and carried that the Conference donate to the general missionary fund $75.00; and that the Conference committee be instructed to pay the same to Bro. White for that purpose.
The following resolutions were presented and adopted.
Resolved, that it will be expected of the several churches within the bounds of this Conference to report to the Con. Sec. on or before the first day of January next, the amounts they will give each month during the Conference year for Conference purposes in pursuance of the third section of Art. 3.
Resolved, that while we recognize the hand of God in placing Bro. and Sr. White in the responsible position they occupy, we would also deeply feel the obligation laid upon us to sympathize with them in all they are called to bear for the good of the people of God, and would tender to them our hearty co-operation.
The location of Bro. Andrews and family being called in question, the following committee of seven were appointed to consider the matter, viz., J. M. Lindsay, J. B. Lamson, A. Lanphear, Ira Abbey, H. H. Wilcox, Eld. Wm. Green and H. Hilliard.
Sister White, by request of the Conference being present at this session and having testimonies for several persons present, was invited to present the same. Her testimonies were then read, producing a very happy effect upon the meeting. Bro. White then, with great freedom, followed Sr. White's testimonies with soul-touching and heart-cheering remarks; after which, the Conference joined with him in fervent prayer, and then adjourned sine die.
A. Lanphear, Pres. J. M. Aldrich, Sec.
P. S. It may not be out of place for me to say in addition to the foregoing report of the business meetings, that the religious exercises of all the meetings during the Conference were of a highly interesting character. The attendance was large, there being a good representation of brethren from all parts of the State.
Preaching on Sabbath evening by Bro. Fuller; Bro. White preached twice on the Sabbath with good freedom. Bro. Andrews preached twice on first-day. There were two social meetings on the Sabbath, the time being well improved by the brethren. Sister White had good liberty in bearing her testimony, which she improved several times to the edification and comfort of God's people. Through her heaven-inspiring testimonies, prejudice had to yield; and some at least, and I doubt not, many, saw things pertaining to our faith in a much more favorable light than before. Upon the whole, I think we have reason to believe that the Conference at Adams' Center, has resulted, and will result, in much good to the cause, both on account of the business that was transacted, and the religious exercises of the several meetings.
In behalf of the many brethren that attended the Conference, I take the liberty to say that they were nobly and generously entertained by the church and friends at Adams' Center. I doubt not, that there will be a strong inclination to meet with the brethren there again in general Conference.
J. M. Aldrich.

Seeing we Look for Such Things.

‐We look for‐—something. Who does not look ahead? Surely the men are few that can contentedly sit down without turning one glance to the future. Is it to them a scene of cloudless splendor they look forward? Or is it but a scene of starless night? Still men will look forward. Men are prone to contemplation; and what can furnish material for contemplation like the dim, shadowy unknown and impenetrable future? Men look—but, alas! how often when they reach the looked for, longed for, object—’tis gone.’ It seemed a substance—’twas a shade.
It seemed a marble column, firm and high, ’Twas but a fleecy cloud that swept the sky.
Thus men are deceived. Still they run their ceaseless race, hurrying on to pluck the withered roses and the lasting thorns. Thus are men disappointed, while they ‘look’ for ‘earthly wealth,’ careless about ‘treasures in Heaven;’ for earthly glory, regardless of the eternal glory that awaits the saint; for worldly honor, forgetful of that which cometh from God only. And as they weep over blighted hopes, and curse their helpless lot, well for them would it be could they uncover their blinded eyes and see that ‘passing away is written on the world, and all the world contains.’
We look; but not for things like these. O, no! we have chased earth’s phantoms and flowers till we can say: ‘All, all is vanity; and to it we would no longer be subject—for it we would no longer seek.’ Still we look! How can we avoid it? It is an element of our being. We could not eradicate it. But while the principle of hope in the worldling’s heart is twining around this world, with us it is not so; our anchor has been heaved up from the muddy bed, where once it dragged, and cast on better anchorage ground, far within the veil. Our cable is not wet by the heaving billows, nor chafed by the sunken rock. It is far beyond their reach, twining around the pillars of Jehovah’s throne.
We look for things that God hath spoken of—‘things surpassing fable, and yet true,’—visions before whose brightness mortal eyes are blind—before whose glory all of earth is dimmed. ‘We look beyond’ the blasting of every earthly hope, the ruin of every earthly treasure; beyond the howl of the rich and the wail of the mighty; beyond the passing heavens and the melting earth; and lo! what glories greet our joyful eyes! From that conflagrant mass, nature’s vast wreck, another nobler, purer earth comes forth. Jehovah speaks, and heaven and earth are new!
O! how all things will be changed! how glorious that change will be! Where earth once groaned and sighed, glad hills shall sing and forests clap their hands! Where toils were endured, triumphs shall be enjoyed! Where sighs burst forth, songs shall forever swell! Where gloom once gathered, glory now shall gild!
Where thorns once grew fir trees shall cast their shade; Where briars stood, the myrtle’s boughs shall spread; Where pain now riots, pleasure shall bear sway— Darkness shall pass and yield to perfect day. Where curse doth wither and where sin doth stain, God shall restore, and righteousness shall reign.
‘We look,’ and oh, what deep solemnity! what spotless purity—what perfect love—what holy joy, should prospects like ours inspire! God has ever had a faithful race of ‘pilgrims and strangers,’ of whom this blighted earth was never worthy, Heb. xi, 38; but when that brighter, holier, worthier world shall come, shall we be worthy of it? Shall we join the blood-washed band, who come through tribulation’s depths to Zion’s glory-gilded summit!
‘Seeing we look for such things,’ be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless.—Herald of Gospel Liberty.

Religious Revivals.

[THE following pertinent remarks are from The Chronicle, a journal of high order in the Baptist persuasion.]
“Those who follow the profession of revival-making are prone to take the work into their own hands, and to get up a sensation by foul means, if they cannot do it by fair. Oddity, noise, denunciation, attacks on private character, and everything to kindle the passions and set tongues in motion, are resorted to, to accomplish their object. If the people will not pray, they must be made to curse; if they will not acquiesce, they must be excited to malignant opposition; if they cannot be persuaded, they must be repelled, and thus in some way the social elements must be raised to a tempest to ensure notoriety to those who assume to be leaders on the occasion. The most deplorable results have followed from attempting such a policy as this in revivals, and thousands have been added to the churches by its means who have no possible conception of the nature of Christianity.
“Genuine revivals begin by a process like that of seeding from which our harvest comes. The soil must be first broken up or reduced to a state of mellowness, before it can take in the seed or absorb the dews and rains of heaven. And to this purpose the prophet speaks: ‘Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.’ That is, by the practice of what is right, break up all your evil habits and designs, and by exercising mercy, prepare to enjoy its fruits upon your own souls. ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’”

Prayer.

By J. Mason

Fill up the void spaces of your time with meditation and prayer.
They are the safest who are most in [their closets, who pray, not to be seen of men, but to be heard of God.
It is a comfort to Christians apart, to think their prayers meet before a throne of grace; and their persons shall meet before a throne of glory.
There wants nothing but a believing prayer to turn a promise into a performance.
God is a great God, and therefore he will be sought; he is a good God, and therefore he will be found.
The breath of prayer comes from the life of faith.
Whatever you want, go to God by faith and prayer, in the name of Christ, and never think his delays are denials.
They that spend their days in faith and prayer, shall end their days in peace and comfort.—J. Mason.

Free Thinkers

By Fuller

FREE THINKERS.—Some socialists have discovered a short path to celebrity. Having heard that it is a vastly silly thing to believe everything, they take it for granted that it must be a vastly wise thing to believe nothing. They therefore set up for free-thinkers; but their stock in trade is, that they are free from thinking. No persons make so large a demand against the reason of others, as those who have none of their own; as a highwayman will take greater liberties with our purse than our banker.—Fuller.

Don't Read Novels.

Dr. Goldsmith, who had himself written the "Vicar of Wakefield," in writing to his brother, respecting the education of his son, used this strong language:
"Above all things, let your son never touch a novel or romance. How delusive, how destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss! They teach the youthful mind to sigh after beauty and happiness that never existed; to despise the little good that fortune has mixed up in our cup, by expecting more than she ever gave; and, in general, take the word of a man who has seen the world, and studied it more by experience than precept; take my word for it, I say that such books teach us very little of the world."
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